There are various designs of hand dryer on the market, which are typically installed in public washrooms as an alternative to paper towels.
FIG. 1 illustrates one conventional style of hand dryer a, currently marketed and sold under the model name AB01, as part of the Dyson Airblade® range of hand dryers. It works by using a motor-driven fan to force air at high pressure through an opposing pair of narrow, slit-like nozzles b, c, each less than 1 mm wide, partially enclosed in a drying cavity d. This creates two opposing thin sheets, or “blades”, of high velocity (>100 m/s) air which act to strip water from the front and backs of a user's hands as they are ‘dipped’—palms flat—into the drying cavity d between the opposing nozzles b, c.
The hand dryer shown in FIG. 1 provides a “two-sided” drying action: both the front and back of the hands are dried at the same time.
Another conventional style of hand dryer e is shown in FIG. 2. In this style of hand dryer, a single, relatively large nozzle f is provided, rather than opposing nozzles. This single nozzle f directs drying air down onto the user's hands, which are held underneath the nozzle f to dry. The air is ejected at relatively low speed compared to the hand dryer a in FIG. 1: too low to drive significant amounts of water moisture from the hands.
Instead, the air is heated to promote evaporative drying of water moisture on the hands of the user. The drying action is a “hand-over-hand” action, requiring the user to rub the hands together under the nozzle f with the aim of encouraging the evaporative drying effect.
It is an object of the present invention to try to provide an improved hand dryer.